Leader Instruments gears for CCW Expo, New York

Cypress, California, USA, 5 November 2012: Leader Instruments heads to New York, 14-15 November, exhibiting on booth 1350 at Content & Communications World Expo in the Javits Convention Center.

"Leader will be unveiling its expanded product range to the East Coast audio/video production, broadcast and online distribution markets at CCW Expo," comments George Gonos, President of Leader Instruments Corporation. "In addition to the popular LV5330 and LV5380 series, we will demonstrate the new LV5307 high-affordability monitor/rasterizer, the LV7770 rasterizing multi-SDI monitor and the LV5837/5838 audio monitor. All of these instruments have been developed with feedback from key customers and meet the industry's latest requirements. They are designed with creative/operations personnel as well as technical staff in mind. This helps expand the use of test equipment throughout the production, postproduction and transmission workflow, bringing qualitative improvements to the entire process. Our exhibit will also the include the Phabrix Rx2000 dual screen test generator/analyser and the latest iteration of VidChecker, Version 4.5, for automated quality control of file-based video."

Leader LV5307 monitor/rasterizer

The LV5307 is a compact 7 inch monitor/rasterizer with internal cross-conversion from 3G-SDI, HD-SDI and SD-SDI to HDMI and vice versa. The HDMI output can be used as a rasterizer, delivering screen content to an external monitor. Price is under US$2,000.

Selectable waveform, vector and false-colour test screens can be inset over SDI and HDMI sources. Picture modes include markers, monochrome, blue-only, red–only and green-only, plus cross-pulse. A peaking function allows precise adjustment of camera focus. Easy-to-use controls with presettable quick-function buttons complement the comprehensive display and menus.

A high-quality LED-backlit LCD screen delivers bright images over wide horizontal and vertical viewing angles. With its 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, 16.7 million colour depth and 800:1 contrast ratio, the LV5307 allows detailed viewing of video images and waveforms. All screen contents, including waveform, vector, false colour and markers, can be fed direct to the HDMI input of a larger monitor.

SDI-embedded audio is de-embedded and displayed as 16-channel bar icons superimposed over the video image. Audio timing is adjustable to offset delay relative to source video. Monitor volume can be set from the front panel.

The LV5307 rasterizing test monitor has a compact 221 x 49 millimetre footprint (8.7 x 1.9 inches) and is 126 millimetres high (5 inches). Weight is 917 grammes (2.02 pounds). Operating temperature is 0 to 40 degrees Celsius (32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit). Power requirement is 12 volts DC at 1.2 amperes, or universal AC mains from the included power adapter. The instrument can be used free-standing or attached to a supplied tilting stand. An optional rack mount is available to allow easy incorporation into a desk, mobile production vehicle or apparatus room.

Leader LV7770 rasterizing multi-SDI monitor

Leader's LV7770 enables programme production and post-production staff as well engineering supervisors in broadcast stations and independent facilities to check the quality of their video and audio content on a much larger screen than can be accommodated in a portable instrument. It has two auto-sensing 3G-SDI/HD-SDI/SD-SDI inputs and can perform tests on a total of 17 video signal formats ranging from standard-definition up to 720p, 1080i and 1080p high-definition. Tri-level sync or NTSC or PAL blackburst are accepted for external reference. The selected input is reclocked and can be fed downstream.

Fully controllable from its front panel, via Ethernet or from the optional LV7770-01 dedicated remote control panel, the instrument employs a user interface essentially identical to the existing LV5770, LV5800 and LV5700A. This ergonomic similarity allows operators to move easily between devices.

The LV7770 feature set encompasses waveform, vectorscope, peak video level display, SDI/external-sync phase difference, audio, picture and data monitoring functions. Displays can be viewed at full screen size or in assignable combinations. Extensive error detection and error logging facilities are incorporated, including gamut detection and adjustable error thresholds. Digital analysis screens Include data dump as well as equivalent cable length readings.

Also available within the LV7770 are Leader's unique Cinelite II relative brightness analyser, 3D Assist stereoscopic signal evaluator, EIA-708/EIA-608 closed caption data display, active format description data display, optional physical layer testing and ancillary data display.

A separate audio option card supports integral audio tools include Dolby metadata analysis plus simultaneous display of 16 channels of SDI-embedded audio, audio loudness display and measurement of lip-sync timing.

The rasterizer outputs test results and images through a DVI-I feed at XGA resolution, delivering high display quality. An HDMI output delivers picture plus audio to an external monitor for easy observation of source material.

Leader LV5837/5838 audio signal monitors

The LV5837 and LV5838 audio test instruments allow audio signals and levels to be checked quickly and accurately in environments such as sound recording studios, television studios, edit suites or broadcast presentation and playout facilities.

The LV5837 accepts up to eight AES/EBU stereo digital audio feeds at sampling frequencies from 32 to 192 kilohertz. 16 audio channel bargraphs can be viewed simultaneously on the instrument's 6.3 inch TFT LCD colour screen.

Any stereo pair among 16 source channels can be selected and displayed as a Lissajous waveform, showing the relative sound energies for each channel and providing instant warning of a phase-inverted source. The correlation coefficient between the signal pair assigned to the Lissajous display is presented as a value between plus and minus one.

The LV5837 audio signal monitor includes a surround sound display for operation in stereo and 5.1 formats with user-assignable channel mapping and switchable automatic gain control.

Loudness measurement can be performed in mono, stereo and 5.1 surround. The loudness mode includes momentary, short-term and long-term level display plus a numeric chart display showing the change in short-term and long-term response along a timeline of 1, 4, 10 or 30 minutes or 1, 2, 4, 6, 13 or 24 hours. A logging feature can be used to record and timestamp detected errors or long-term loudness values. These can be captured at intervals of 1 second for up to a week.

Leader's LV5838 has the same feature set as the LV5837 plus the ability to extract and measure audio from 3G-SDI, HD-SDI and SD-SDI signal streams. An optional module is available for the LV5837 and LV5838 to support Dolby E multichannel encoding, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Plus.

Phabrix Rx2000 dual-screen test generator and analyser

The Phabrix Rx2000 rack-mountable test generator and analyser is the flagship of a range which also includes the Rx1000 full-width 1U and Rx500 half-width 1U rasterisers. Available for SD/HD-SDI or 3G-SDI system formats, the Rx2000 accommodates up to four modules currently including single-input and dual-input video analysers, dual-input eye/jitter analyser, video generator, combined video generator/analyser, four-channel or eight-channel AES audio analyser, Dolby E/D/D Plus analyser and MADI analyser. All modules are interchangeable throughout the Rx series. Each Rx instrument has an inbuilt line-based generator as standard. Two 4.3 inch 16:9 aspect ratio screens are located on the front panel, one assigned to video confidence monitoring and the other to menu viewing and instrumentation. In addition to being fully controllable from the front panel, all features of the Rx2000 can be accessed under mouse and keyboard control or via standard web browsers.

VidChecker Quality Control and Intelligent Automated Correction

An easy to install application for PCs/servers, VidChecker measures the parameters and settings operators typically get wrong in preparation and exchange of files between post-production, internal distribution and broadcast playout. It checks and repairs the most common problems in file-based content, ensuring that clips, interstitials and complete programmes are immediately ready for post-production or transmission. Intelligent automated correction is applied to video and audio levels. Multiple audio tracks, each with up to eight channels, can be checked in just one pass.

Audio levels are automatically corrected to ITU-R 1770-2, ATSC A/85 CALM and EBU R-128 loudness recommendations. US/Canadian CALM legislation for loudness control became law on 1 September 2012 in Canada and becomes so on 13 December 2012 in the USA. Meeting this legislation will be essential for all broadcasters and post-production houses in North America. VidChecker provides an efficient and cost-effective way of meeting this requirement for file-based video sound-tracks and performs all the corrections fully automatically.

New features in VideoChecker Version 4.5 include the interrogation of MXF-embedded Dolby E; audio click and pops checks; header agrees with essence checks; selectable 'ignore last nn seconds of video'; separate video bitrate check; test if timecode passes through 00:00:00:00; photosensitive epilepsy tests (OFCOM/ITU) for harmful patterns; increased parallelization of video testing; reports to multiple email addresses; and Digital Production Partnership templates.

About Leader Instruments Corporation

Established over 40 years ago in the USA by Leader Electronics (Yokohama, Japan), Leader Instruments (www.LeaderAmerica.com) provides customer support, sales and marketing services for a select number of high-tech manufacturers with specific focus on the broadcast and professional video market. Leader Instruments represents the Leader, Phabrix, Cel-Soft, and Trilogy product lines and covers North America, South America and Europe with a fast, efficient and highly experienced direct customer sales and support channel. Leader Instruments has offices with local representation in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Louisville plus warehouse locations in Los Angeles and Amsterdam.

Accompanying 300 DPI JPEG image shows front and rear of the PHABRIX Rx2000 dual-screen test and measurement system.

Contacts for further information

Leader Instruments Corporation: George Gonos
Tel: +1 (714) 527-9300, ext 403
Email: gonos@leaderamerica.com

Newsmedia support: David Kirk, Stylus Media Consultants
Tel: +44 1342 311 983
Email: stylusmedia@gmail.com

Leader Instruments Corporation, 6484 Commerce Drive, Cypress, CA 90630, USA
Tel: +1 (714) 527-9300
USA toll free: +1 (800) 645-5104
Fax: +1 (714) 527-7490
Web: www.leaderamerica.com